


Bird Watching

by Hobo



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Eventual Fluff, F/F, Gender or Sex Swap, Slow Burn, Stalking, we'll get there guys don't worry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 07:53:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25347277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hobo/pseuds/Hobo
Summary: After being fired from her previous job, Oswin finds herself trying to make ends meet at a local convenience store. Her life is boring and uneventful, and for the most part, she keeps to herself. So why is it then that some mysterious woman has taken to following her every move? Oswin has no idea what her motives could be and isn't entirely sure she wants to find out.*Warning: Contains no actual bird watching
Relationships: Oswald Cobblepot/Edward Nygma
Comments: 17
Kudos: 32





	1. Chapter 1

It was a beautiful summer’s day in Gotham. The skies were clear, the sun was bright, and even the ever-present piles of trash bags and litter decorating the streets weren’t enough to detract from the picturesque scene. The majority of Gotham’s inhabitants had swapped out their warm winter garb with colorful summer fashion, and the sound of laughter could distinctly be heard over the noisy ambiance of the city as groups of families and friends traveled down the sidewalk side by side.

Oswin hated it.

Although it couldn’t be more than 75 degrees out, Oswin has always had a particular intolerance for warm weather and she could already feel sweat beginning to bead up on her forehead as she pushed her way through the crowded streets. Additionally, the glaring light overhead was boring into her eyes even through the cheap pair of sunglasses she was currently wearing. Oh, and the _bugs_. Some sort of shiny green beetle had gotten caught in her hair earlier during her walk and she’d had to set down her bag just to pry the stupid thing out. Gotham was not a particularly pleasant place to live at the best of times, but during summer, it was truly hell.

It was for these reasons that Oswin felt a rare sense of relief upon finally reaching the familiar doors of the convenience station. She loathed working here, but at least it had A/C, which was currently the highest priority objective on Oswin’s list. She had never imagined herself taking a job like this in the past, but it was the best she could do on short notice after having been fired from her previous one. Just thinking about the reason for her termination caused a red fog to encroach upon the edges of her vision and she had to focus on deep breathing exercises to push all the pent-up emotions back down.

Just three months prior, Oswin had been working as a valet for a fancy nightclub. Although the pay wasn’t amazing, much of the clientele had more money than they knew what to do with and she was often able to secure hefty tips with just a little bit of not-so-subtle flirting. Other times, customers would give no tip at all and claim that being able to drive such an expensive vehicle was a reward enough in itself. No matter what, Oswin had no choice but to grin and bear it. For the two long years she was employed there she did nothing but grovel at the feet of the stuck up patrons, an artificial grin permanently plastered onto her face. Perhaps that’s what made it so infuriating that at her very first slip up, her boss wasted no time in kicking her out to the curb without the slightest amount of consideration.

She had been mourning the recent departure of her chronically ill mother at the time, and was perhaps a little off her game. It was most likely due to this that she had been reported for giving a customer an ‘attitude’-- or, more accurately, for not having laughed enthusiastically enough at his unfunny and rather distasteful joke. No matter the cause, she was forced to take the first job she was able to find afterwards in order to avoid being evicted and having to sleep on the street.

She nodded at her co-worker as she entered the building and he waved at her in response. The kid wasn’t particularly bright but was agreeable enough and had quickly picked up on Oswin’s distaste for the exchanging of inane pleasantries. For that much, at least, she was grateful. She soon took his place at the cash register and got to work checking out the several customers who were already beginning to form a queue. The bright side of this job was that there was less pressure on her to be pleasant than at her old job. For the most part, Oswin could sit around scowling all day and nobody would care or even notice. Most of her customers never even bothered speaking to her.

The store was surprisingly less busy than usual that day, with the steady stream of customers tapering off only a few hours into her shift. Technically speaking, Oswin should have busied herself with tasks such as cleaning, stocking, and re-filling coffee pots whenever not busy with customers. However, with there rarely ever being anyone around to keep an eye on her, she had never been yelled at for NOT doing so. Instead, Oswin occupied her spare time with fussing over her fingernails and idly tapping away at her phone. She didn’t even bother to look up as the bell on the door jingled, announcing the entry of another customer into the store. She continued to ignore the customers until hearing the click of an item being placed on the counter, and she reluctantly put her phone aside for the time being to scan it.

“Hey! I saw that,” Oswin warned, leaning around the woman she was currently checking out to stare accusingly at the teenage girl behind her. She was trying and failing to discreetly shove a bag of Oreos into her bag and froze like a deer in headlights upon being caught. After a few seconds, the girl snapped out of her daze and dumped all her items onto the ground before bolting out of the store, nearly tripping on her own feet in her haste. Oswin merely rolled her eyes in response. She honestly didn’t even care about the customers stealing, but sometimes it was funny to watch them panic.

“Anyways, your total is $1.35.” She held out her hand to accept the cash and counted it out quickly before handing her the green plastic lighter, barely even sparing the woman a glance as she did so. The customer thanked her and took her leave, and Oswin went back to her very important and time-consuming task of doing absolutely nothing.

* * *

“Hi Oswin! Being productive as usual, I see,” her coworker teased in a far-too-chipper tone of voice. Oswin, having been completely zoned out, jumped out of her skin and glanced up at the clock in bewilderment.

“Huh. Guess the time got away from me,” Oswin muttered while rubbing at her eyes.

“Well, you know what they say! Time flies when you’re having fun,” she chirped, earning a stare of disbelief from Oswin. “Oh don’t be like that. You know I’m only kidding.” Oswin elected to ignore her and quickly started gathering up her things. The sooner she got out of this place and away from that woman, the better.

“Oswin, wait!” The other woman called out just as her hand was reaching for the door. Damn it, so close.

“Yes?”

“You dropped something,” she explained as she bent down to pick something up from the floor behind the till. Oswin walked back over to see what she had found but merely groaned in annoyance upon spotting the slip of paper in her hand.

“That’s not mine. Just throw it out,” she huffed. It was another one of those stupid riddles. They had started appearing at random times and locations throughout her shift about a week or two since she had started working here. This was the 6th one she had found so far, and Oswin had not attempted to solve a single one. She never really was all that fond of riddles.

“Ooh, it’s a riddle! I love riddles,” her coworker announced upon inspecting the paper.

“Of course you do,” Oswin murmured under her breath.

“Let’s see here… ah, this one’s a classic. ‘Three men are on a boat and they have four cigarettes but nothing to light them with. How do they smoke?’” The bubbly blonde looked up at Oswin with an expectant smile. “Well? Do you know the answer?”

“No, and I don’t care,” Oswin grumbled before turning and limping her way back to the door.

“The answer is they throw one cigarette overboard and make the whole boat a cigarette lighter! Get it? Because—” Oswin slammed the store door shut, thankfully blocking out the grating sound of her co-worker’s voice. She took in a deep breath of fresh air as she stepped out, grateful for the relatively cooler temperature now that dusk was setting in and the sun had disappeared somewhere below the horizon. She began the long trip home, doing her best to ignore the perpetual pain emanating from her ankle. Some days she preferred to just call a cab, but she tried to save the money on fare whenever possible. She really should start bringing some sort of cane to help take some of the weight off, though. At least they were allowed to sit down during their shifts; being made to stand at the register all day would probably have been unbearable.

Idly glancing across the street, Oswin managed to lock eyes with a tall woman who was currently leaning against a wall. The woman looked away quickly, seemingly a bit embarrassed to have been caught staring. For a fleeting moment, Oswin considered the possibility that the woman might have been checking her out, but then realized she was still in her work uniform and probably looked like a total mess. She pushed the train of thought out of her head and tried to focus on what she was going to have for dinner. Was there still leftover takeout in the fridge? Wait, no, she finished that off yesterday. Maybe she’d just have cereal again.

Oswin tapped her foot impatiently as she reached a crosswalk, the bright red light demanding that she stay put for the time being. Noticing a familiar pair of high wasted pants out of the corner of her eye, she turned her head and confirmed that it was, in fact, the same woman she had caught staring at her earlier. She hadn’t even noticed her crossing the street, but she wasn’t exactly paying attention either. However, now that she was really looking at her, Oswin noted that something about the woman seemed familiar. Perhaps she had been in her store at some point, but she couldn’t quite remember what she had bought. Shrugging, Oswin turned back around and stifled a yawn as she waited at the pedestrian light for the signal to cross.

Just as she was beginning to feel tempted to jay-walk, the light changed and she wasted no time in making her way across the road. On a hunch, Oswin glanced over her shoulder upon reaching the other side and was surprised to see the lanky brunette beginning to walk across as well. Hadn’t she just come from this side? Starting to feel a little nervous, Oswin leaned against the wall of a nearby building as casually as she could manage and pulled out her phone. She pretended to busy herself with it, peeking up occasionally to keep track of the suspicious woman. Oswin sighed in relief as she walked straight past her without so much as even sparing her a glance. She chuckled quietly at her own paranoia as she watched her disappear into the crowd, figuring that spending so many hours with little to no mental stimulation was beginning to drive her a little nuts.

Tucking her phone into her bag and setting off again, she tried to force herself to relax and just enjoy the relatively peaceful trip home. Once she arrived she would settle in with a nice glass of wine and whatever food she was able to scavenge from her pantry, letting all the tension from her day slowly melt away. Since she had absolutely nothing to do the day after, she figured she might even stay up a little bit later than usual and treat herself to a good rom-com or two. Silly as they were, they were admittedly something of a guilty pleasure for her.

Oswin squinted at a nearby car mirror as she spied a familiar figure in its reflection. She gasped out loud when she realized it was the same woman from before, having somehow managed to get behind her once again. Had she slipped into a corridor and waited for her to walk past? Panicking, Oswin picked up her pace and weaved in amongst the crowd as she planned her next move. She eventually settled for ducking into the nearest building, hoping she had put enough space between her and the other woman to not have been seen.

She found herself being greeted with judgmental staring from employees and customers alike and realized that she didn’t exactly blend in with the target demographic of the jewelry store she had just barged into, especially not in the uniform she was currently wearing. Oswin chewed at her lip and began examining a necklace on a nearby display, hoping to avoid being kicked out by acting as if she were planning on buying something. Judging by the looks she was receiving, it seemed that she had ended up making the situation even worse by causing them to think she was planning on stealing something. With a frustrated sigh, Oswin decided to just ignore the rude staring and focus on the much more pressing matter currently at hand.

Why would anybody want to tail her? She didn’t remember ever meeting the woman, at least not outside of her store. Most likely, she was being paid to do this. Had someone taken a hit out on her? She couldn’t imagine a single reason why anybody would want her dead enough to pay the presumably very expensive price for it. She glanced up at the window every few seconds, keeping an eye out for her pursuer as she weighed out her options. She couldn’t just go home, could she? She didn’t want to lead the woman back to where she lived—assuming she didn’t already know her address, that is. Oswin shuddered at the thought and drummed her fingers nervously against the counter. She could go to the police, but what would she even say? She had no proof, and the GCPD was notoriously useless. Besides, she hated police in general and would prefer to not get them involved if she could help it. She could always stay at a hotel for the night and hope the woman leaves, but to be honest she couldn’t really even afford a cheap one on her current salary.

Her best bet was probably to just hail a cab. Even then, though, the woman could always just do the same and pay off the driver to follow her, so she’d have to ensure that she had temporarily shaken her first. She took one last look out the window, carefully searching the streets for any signs of the mysterious woman. She didn’t see her, but Oswin knew that didn’t necessarily mean that the other woman couldn’t see her. She took in a deep breath to steel herself and snuck out of the store, sticking close behind another customer who was also leaving. Her eyes quickly scanned for a new place to take cover, thankful for once for her diminutive size which allowed her to be easily hidden. Oswin darted out to duck behind a car as the man passed by it, feeling her heart thumping rapidly in her chest. She blended herself in with a passing crowd as they drew near and checked yet again for any signs of her tail.

She didn’t see her anywhere, but she couldn’t be too sure. Mustering up all her courage, Oswin reached into her handbag and turned into a secluded alleyway. The press of the metal handle of her switchblade against her palm was reassuring, and she mentally ran through different scenarios of the potential encounter as she crouched down behind a dumpster. The other woman was much taller than her, but armed and with the element of surprise she still had a good chance at the very least.

Oswin froze as she heard footsteps, silently praying it was anyone but her. She held her breath to avoid being detected and tightened her grip on the blade, preparing to jump her from behind as she walked past. The footsteps grew nearer and nearer as Oswin pressed herself flat against the side of the dumpster, hoping it was dark enough now that its shadow would be enough to conceal her. Finally, she heard the footsteps continue past where she was currently hidden and was just about to jump out when she realized it wasn’t her. She released the breath she had been holding as quietly as possible, hoping to avoid the man turning around and asking why she was crouched behind a dumpster with a switchblade clutched to her chest.

Oswin did her best to stabilize her breathing and heartbeat as she waited for him to leave the alley. Had she managed to lose her, or had she never even been following her in the first place? It seemed unlikely to just be a coincidence, everything considered. Regardless, it seemed she was safe for the time being at least. A few moments after the man disappeared around the corner, Oswin stood back up and turned to go back out the way she came but found herself face to face with a shadowy figure which was currently blocking her path. She yelped and nearly dropped her knife but was quickly able to recover, fumbling for only a second before regaining her control over the blade and holding it out in front of her as a warning. It was definitely her this time.

“Who are you? What do you want from me?!” Oswin demanded, clicking open the blade to show she was serious. The woman only grinned back at Oswin in response, and if Oswin weren’t so terrified she would be enraged by the audacity of it.

“You figured out the riddles. I was hoping you would,” she told her, dark brown eyes gazing at her with an unnatural intensity.

“You… You were the one leaving those annoying things?!?” Oswin hissed, her eyes narrowing. The strange woman’s smile dropped at this, being replaced by furrowed brows and a disappointed frown.

“But if you didn’t solve my riddles, then why were you looking for me?” She questioned, blinking from behind her glasses in confusion. Oswin’s jaw dropped for a moment in disbelief.

“YOU were the one stalking ME! Don’t you dare play dumb,” she accused, thrusting the knife forward menacingly. The woman in front of her didn’t so much as flinch. She looked perplexed at first, but that infuriating smile slowly crept back onto her face.

“You noticed that? No one’s ever noticed me before,” she explained, sounding far too pleased for someone who had just been caught committing a crime. “I don’t know if I would necessarily call it _stalking_ , though… that sounds a little bit extreme.”

“Well, that’s exactly what you were doing. You were stalking me,” Oswin snapped impatiently. “And not very well either. You were obvious.” Oswin watched as her grin slowly shifted from one of delight to one of amusement.

“If that’s true, then why did it take you so long to spot me?” She asked her in response.

“It didn’t! I noticed you almost the second I left the store,” Oswin insisted. The amused expression remained firmly upon the other woman’s face and Oswin initially began to question exactly how much of her sanity was intact. Unfortunately, she soon picked up on the source of her mirth and felt a sinking feeling growing in the pit of her stomach. How long exactly had this been going on? Had she been following her around since when the riddles had first started appearing?

“Tell me who you are right now or I’ll stab you,” she warned, and it wasn’t an empty threat.

“Actually, we’ve met once before. Do you recognize me?” Oswin squinted at her, studying her dimly lit features carefully before slowly shaking her head.

“No, I’m quite sure that we haven’t. I would remember,” she asserted, trying to figure out what kind of game the woman was playing.

“It was about three months ago. You bumped into me, not too far from here.” Oswin continued to glare at her through narrowed eyes before remembering, the realization slowly washing over her.

_It was her first week on the job, and she was in a particularly bad mood as she left work that day. She roughly pushed past a woman who was coming from the other direction, causing her to stumble and drop several of the black binders she was carrying onto the sidewalk. One of the binders fell open as it hit the ground, and several loose papers were pulled free by strong winds and carried off high above the bustling streets. The woman made no move to chase them, however, merely standing there mutely and staring at Oswin with an odd expression on her face. Figuring she expected some sort of apology, Oswin snarled at her and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt._

_“Watch where you’re going next time, you clumsy idiot,” she barked at her before shoving her aside and storming off, stepping on one of the binders carelessly as she did so._

Oswin pressed her lips together tightly and took a deep breath in as she processed the situation.

“I see. So, I got on your bad side at some point several months ago and you’ve been plotting your revenge ever since. Is that it?” She guessed. The other woman looked alarmed at the suggestion, her smile faltering as she tilted her head ever so slightly.

“No, that’s not it at all,” she assured her.

“Then why—” The sentence caught in her throat as something suddenly clicked in her head. It had been nagging at her since they had started speaking, a feeling that something was slightly off but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. She felt ice shooting through her veins upon making the connection, pulling her bag open and frantically digging through it with one hand. She barely took her eyes off the woman as she searched, her panic intensifying with every passing second. It wasn’t there. That couldn’t be.

Fighting down a wave of nausea, Oswin looked the other woman directly in the eyes as she forced herself to speak.

“Are you… Are you wearing my lipstick?” Oswin inquired in a shaky voice, dreading the response. There it was, that damned smile again. Before she could even think to react, the woman was turning and fleeing from the narrow alleyway, disappearing around the corner and off into the night. Oswin stood there for a few moments, too stunned to stop her. She blinked a few times in bewilderment and then pulled herself together, shouting after the woman as she rushed to follow suit.

“Hey!!! Where do you think you’re going?!?” She bellowed as she broke out of the alleyway and found herself back on the busy city streets. She was utterly unsurprised to discover that the woman was nowhere to be found, having already completely vanished from sight. She sighed loudly and rubbed her temples as she stood there, adrenaline still coursing through her body in abundance. She noticed someone staring at her from the corner of her eye and turned to notice a family of three watching her in alarm as the mother protectively pulled her child in close.

“Something on my face?” Oswin questioned with a passive aggressive smile as she snapped the switchblade closed. The family rushed off, leaving Oswin alone to contemplate the wild turn of events she had just been unwillingly dragged through.

One thing was for certain, at the very least: she was definitely calling a cab.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been five days since the incident. Despite not having seen hide nor hair of the woman since their meeting in the alleyway, Oswin felt herself growing increasingly paranoid as time went on. She wasn’t sure if the woman had backed off after being caught or if she was just being extra careful not to get spotted now that she knew Oswin was aware of her presence. She found herself constantly looking over her shoulder and was frequently sure she could see the woman out of the corner of her eye, yet she found nothing there every time.

The dark grey clouds blotting out the sun were doing nothing to provide any relief from the stifling heat, the humidity being both uncomfortable and an absolute disaster for her hair. Luckily, Oswin had managed to stay out of it for most of the day. She didn’t dare to walk anywhere now, even during broad daylight, and was currently taking refuge in the cool environment of a cab as she made the trip home from work. She rubbed at her stiff neck as she stared out the window, trying not to think too much about the day she’d had. Some customers were really just assholes, but that was nothing new.

She stuck her head out of the cab as it came to a stop and looked in both directions for the stalker girl before stepping out of it. It was practically a habit now. She stopped to collect her mail before heading up the stairs, flipping through it and finding absolutely nothing of interest. It’s not like she had been expecting anything, anyway. She unlocked and opened the door to her apartment with one hand, not taking her eyes off her mail as she did so. Just an instant later, the pristine white envelopes she had been previously holding were scattered around her feet as she stared in horror at the sinister sight before her. She almost couldn’t believe her eyes.

It was a box.

A medium sized box, wrapped skillfully in dark purple paper with an intricate bow tied around it artfully. Right there on the coffee table, in full view of the doorway.

But it didn’t belong to her.

Slamming the door shut, she spun on her heel and rushed across the hallway as fast as she could. She began pounding on the door while tossing frantic glances over her shoulder to make sure the door remained closed. She was so distracted she didn’t even notice when the door in front of her had swung open. She nearly slammed her fist into the chest of the man who had appeared in it, but he caught it with ease before it could make contact and smiled down at her casually.

“Hiya there, little lady! What can I do for ya?” Victor chirped, and Oswin resisted the urge to snap at him for calling her ‘little’ as she wrenched her hand out of his grasp. Since she was here to ask him a favor, she supposed she should at least make an effort to be polite. The two of them weren’t close by any means, but they did always exchange nods when passing each other in the hallway. Plus, she had once spared him a couple of beers when he had run out so she figured they were on good terms.

“It appears as if someone has broken into my apartment. They should be long gone by now, but do you think you could take a look around? It would make me feel a lot safer,” she explained. She had no idea if her stalker had actually left or not and was essentially using him as cannon fodder, but he didn’t need to know that. Victor peered over her at her apartment door curiously before looking back to her, still seemingly pleasant as ever.

“Sure, I got nothing better to be doing. Just give me one sec,” he told her, motioning for her to come in before disappearing into his apartment. Oswin did so and shut the door behind her, standing on her tiptoes to peer out the peephole while she waited. She turned back around upon hearing footsteps and was met with the sight of Victor Zsasz, now armed with a gun. She raised her eyebrows at him and he merely shrugged before sauntering past her and towards her apartment. 

Oswin didn’t follow him as he went inside, opting instead to cling to the door frame in case she needed to make a quick exit. 

“Hey Oswin, I didn’t know it was your birthday!” He called to her as he leaned in to inspect the gift box on the table.

“It’s not,” she replied flatly.

“Then who’s this for?” He pressed. She should have known he was the nosy type.

“Me. That’s the problem. It was sitting there when I got back from work.”

“Ooh, a secret admirer?” He surmised.

“It’s not a secret admirer. She’s a stalker.” Victor’s eyes lit up at that last part and she realized she had said too much.

“So you know who it is?” He pried, and Oswin was wholly unamused.

“Victor, I feel as if you aren’t taking this seriously enough. Someone literally  _ broke into my house _ to leave this here.” 

“Well, yeah. Did you expect her to just leave it in front of the door? Someone would have taken it,” he pointed out as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Oswin shut her eyes and started counting backwards from ten.

“Are you at least going to open it?”

“Of course I’m not going to open it! It’s too dangerous. It could be a… a bomb or something,” she speculated. Victor held the box up to his ear and started vigorously shaking it. Oswin watched on in silence, completely dumbfounded.

“Doesn’t sound like a bomb to me.”

“Look, if you’re not going to finish looking around then you’re more than welcome to leave,” she huffed. He only hummed at her in response. They then stared at each other for an uncomfortably long time, Oswin shifting awkwardly as the silence stretched on.

“...Well I’m gonna open it,” he finally declared as he turned back to the box.

“Are you crazy?” She snapped as Victor delicately removed the glittery bow only to carelessly tear into the wrapping paper just moments later. He shrugged in response to Oswin’s accusation.

“If you’re too chicken to open it then I’ll just do it for you,” he stated, earning an offended scoff from Oswin.

“I am not a ch-- oh, forget it. Do whatever you want, but don’t blame me if it’s full of anthrax,” she warned, greatly regretting her decision to enlist his help. He ignored her as he peeled off the last of the wrapping paper and gently removed the lid. He let out a short whistle at the sight of whatever was inside before reaching in.

“Wow, this looks… expensive,” he noted as he displayed its contents in the air in front of him. Hesitantly, Oswin stepped closer to get a better look. Hanging on his thumbs was a sparkling silver chain, weighed down at its middle by a deep red teardrop shaped ruby-- and a very sizable one at that. It was beautiful, elegant, and completely her style.

It was also the exact same one she had been looking at in the jewelry store. 

“You okay?” He asked, pulling her out of her stupor. She wondered how long she had been standing there staring.

“I’m fine,” she assured him, although her tone didn’t quite match her words.

“You’re shaking,” he observed with furrowed eyebrows.

“I think I just need to sit down. I’ve had a long day is all,” she told him before collapsing into her armchair. Seeming to finally sense the gravity of the situation, Victor left to finish checking the rest of the apartment. 

Clearly, the gift was meant as some sort of threat. The meaning of it specifically, Oswin was less sure of. The placement of it inside her home sent an obvious message: she knew where Oswin lived and she knew how to get in. Perfect. But what about the necklace itself? She had gone into the jewelry store that day in an attempt to elude the woman. Was this supposed to suggest that there was nowhere to hide from her? Or perhaps it was more transparent. Maybe she was merely trying to show Oswin that she had money and that she wasn’t afraid to use it to her advantage. After all, money is power. She wondered how much Victor would have to be paid in order to betray her. Probably not much, especially if alcohol was part of the deal. Or maybe she had  _ already _ paid Victor off. Maybe Victor was going to walk back into the room right now with his gun pointed at her head and--

“All clear,” Victor announced from behind her, and she screamed and gripped at her chest as if she were having a heart attack.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that!” She chastised. Sympathetically, Victor walked over and patted her on the head a few times as if she were a dog. Oswin paused in her theatrics to look at him as if he had completely lost his mind.

“You know where to find me. Let me know if anything changes,” he instructed her. She took in a deep breath and quickly let it out before looking back at him again.

“Thank you,” she said simply. He nodded and turned to leave, letting the door click shut behind him as he did so. The man could be annoying at times, but she supposed she did feel slightly safer now, so he wasn’t completely worthless to have around. Besides, he had always been patient with her temper and sudden mood swings, unlike most people. She had no idea why he had a gun, or even what he did for a living now that she thought about it, but she sensed it was probably better not to ask.

Reluctantly, she pulled herself out of her chair to lock the door behind him and collect her forgotten mail. Since her stalker could apparently pick locks it didn’t entirely matter, but at the very least it might buy her time to react if she heard something. She briefly considered whether she would survive the four-story drop from her window. Probably not, or at least not without being severely injured, but she wouldn’t eliminate the option entirely.

Well, now what. She was pretty sure she wasn’t going to be able to relax after this, and she didn’t want to drink too much and dull her senses in case the woman came back. Surely one glass of wine wouldn’t hurt, though. She opened a new bottle and poured some of the dark red liquid into a glass. She was a bit of a wine snob, so it physically pained her to drink the cheap garbage she typically kept her place stocked with. Still, it was better than nothing. Maybe once she found a place with lower rent she’d have a little extra spending money for better quality stuff. She brought her glass back over to the coffee table and set it down before returning to her place in the armchair.

Despite her best attempt to look literally anywhere else, she couldn’t keep her gaze from drifting over to settle on the necklace once again. She always did like rubies. Plus, it would probably look incredibly flattering on her.

What was she even thinking? She definitely wasn’t going to keep it. It didn’t matter if it was pretty, it was the principle of it. She shoved it back into the box and slammed the lid shut so she wouldn’t be tempted by it. She’d pawn it off tomorrow and hope she didn’t get arrested on sight; for all she knew, the woman had stolen the damn thing. Out of curiosity, she pulled out her phone and checked the news for any reports of a jewelry theft. No, nothing. But that didn’t necessarily mean anything. There was so much crime in Gotham that something as small as this probably wouldn’t even be newsworthy.

She took a long sip from her glass as she let herself become lost in thought. Christ, she really couldn’t catch a break. First her ankle, then her mom, then the job, and now this. Had she broken a mirror or something? Oswin wasn’t the overly superstitious type, but she still avoided breaking any rules just to be on the safe side. She didn’t believe in karma either, but even if she did, she hadn’t ever done anything to deserve this. At least she was able to grieve her mother in peace until this lunatic came along. Maybe it was all just some game to her. It certainly seemed so, considering the dumb riddles and the way she had smiled at her when they met in that alleyway. She couldn’t get the image of her grinning face out of her head no matter how tightly she shut her eyes.

She had to have been lying about not wanting revenge. It was the only clear explanation. She had accidentally bumped into a complete and total psychopath and this was the price she had to pay. Sure, she had been a little rude, but she had good reason to be upset that day! Plus, it was Gotham. People were rude all the time. It by no means warranted a means of payback as extreme as this one. She felt her eyes prickling with angry tears. She needed to fight back, but she didn’t know how. Maybe she could trick the woman into following her somewhere secluded again and she could just stab her. She was sorely regretting not having just done so the first time. But would she be armed this time? Certainly she wouldn’t make the same mistake twice, right?

Oswin’s eyes landed on the box yet again and she felt her blood boil at the sight. Unfortunately for the box, it was something for Oswin to channel all her anger into. It was also an unwelcome reminder of its sender, and Oswin didn’t want to have to look at it anymore. Scooping it up, Oswin stormed over to the window and yanked it open before chucking the thing out. She watched it plummet all the way down and land somewhere in a bush. Nevermind pawning it. That would basically be the same as accepting the money from the woman and she would NOT take any aid from the likes of her. Then again, maybe she was making the situation worse. What if she had seen her throw out the necklace and perceived it as an insult? Oh well, screw her anyways. Let her be mad.

She slammed the window shut and promptly returned to her shitty wine. She wondered if the woman had done anything else while she was here. Had she taken anything? Left anything else? She wasn’t sure which was worse. The woman had already stolen her lipstick, so it didn’t seem unlikely for her to use the opportunity to steal something else. Was there anything of any particular importance laying around? She didn’t think so, but she’d have to remember to check her makeup supplies later. And maybe her underwear drawer, she thought with a shudder. She really hoped she wasn’t  _ that  _ kind of stalker.

She also could have sabotaged something, though. It would have been easy for her to poison her food supply. Or even… No, that’s right, this bottle was new. Thank god. She’d still have to throw out her unsealed food and drinks to be safe. Wait. Could she have installed cameras? Oswin felt her heart skip a beat as she considered the possibility. She could be watching her right now. Did she even know what a spy cam looked like? She didn’t see anything suspicious, but she wasn’t sure she’d be able to recognize one even if she looked straight at it. Or maybe this was her plan all along-- to break into her house and do absolutely nothing aside from leaving the present. To make her panic and lose her peace of mind. Oswin didn’t want to give her the satisfaction if that were the case, but it was undeniably working. 

One glass of wine turned into two. Two turned into three. Unfortunately, it was running through her. She didn’t want to leave the safety of the living room, but she really had no choice. The possibility of Victor having been paid off went through her mind again. Could she have convinced him to tell her that the apartment was empty even though it wasn’t? Her legs felt like lead, but she reluctantly dragged herself to the bathroom. 

She took a deep breath and counted to three before pushing the door open. It had gotten dark now, so she immediately rushed to flick the light on. The room was empty, but her eyes couldn’t help but catch on the closed curtain surrounding the bath. She’d never felt like such a coward in her whole life. Did she even really care if she got stabbed at this point? With determination, she pulled the curtain open quickly as if she were ripping off a band-aid. As expected, the bathtub was completely empty. She really hoped there weren’t any cameras in the bathroom, though.

She stopped and stared at her reflection for a moment after washing her hands. What she needed was just to pull herself together and go to bed. After all, she did have work in the morning. She reached out to grab her toothbrush and promptly realized it wasn’t there. She felt the chilling grasp of fear taking hold of her as she searched around for it, not finding it anywhere. Why would she want her toothbrush? That was just disgusting. Did that mean that she  _ was _ that kind of stalker after all? That was probably the worst case scenario out of all of them. She had no choice at this point, she’d have to alert the police or else--

She dropped her head into her hands when she remembered, letting out a quiet sob of defeat. She really was losing it. That’s right, she had been running late for work this morning. She’d finished brushing her teeth on her way out the door and had left it lying on the kitchen counter. She went out to check and sure enough, there it was.

She left the bathroom after brushing her teeth, staring at the curtain separating the main room from her bedroom. She hated herself a little for it, but she didn’t have the energy to brave going in there right now. She was exhausted. She’d just sleep right there on the couch, in her work clothes. Whatever. She grabbed a spare blanket from her closet before switching off the light and plopping down on the couch. She was done with today. She shut her eyes and tried to turn off her thoughts.

Naturally, it was only about 10 seconds before she opened them again. She couldn’t shake the feeling of eyes on her, and her mind very unhelpfully supplied the image of the woman standing over her and watching her as she slept. Her eyes scanned the darkened room around her, but she couldn’t make out anything but shadows. She pulled the blanket over her head and tried yet again to go back to sleep.

No luck. She couldn’t even feel safe inside her own home anymore. With a weary sigh, Oswin threw off the blanket and switched on a nearby lamp to help illuminate the room. There, she should feel better now. She refused to admit to herself that she was using a night light. After all, with everything considered, she was just being vigilant.

As she cast her eyes across the room, though, it quickly became apparent that the lamp was only making things even worse. The light cast eerie shadows against the walls and even though she knew it was just her eyes playing tricks on her, she could swear she occasionally saw something moving around within their depths. Giving up, she rose from the couch to go switch the main lights back on. She’d fallen asleep with them on before, surely she would be able to manage. However, she would never admit to anyone the way she darted across the room, scurrying as if someone might reach out and grab her from the darkness if she was too slow. She returned to the couch and tried once more to fall asleep, placing a pillow over her head to try and block out some of the light.

Damn it, though, the noises. She was so sure she heard something coming from her bedroom. It sounded like… shuffling of some sort. She felt her breathing and pulse picking up in spite of her trying to convince herself it was nothing. There was no way she was going to be able to sleep like this. 

She armed herself with a knife from the kitchen before approaching her makeshift bedroom. She poked her head in to confirm that it was empty before cautiously entering. She didn’t think she would be able to fit under the bed, thin as she was. She didn’t see anywhere else that she could be hiding, but she was so certain that she had heard something.

Oswin heard the noise again and her head jerked in the direction of the source. It was coming from behind the bed. Although she wouldn’t have been able to fit under it, she supposed it was possible for her to have slipped into the space between the bed and the wall. Swallowing audibly, Oswin crept forward, forcing herself to keep inching closer. She reminded herself that it was nothing, that she was being ridiculous and paranoid and that there was nothing to worry about. She finally peered into the gap and recoiled in disgust at the discovery.

Cockroaches. Ew. They were crawling all over a discarded food wrapper that had fallen behind the bed. Maybe she would have preferred to have seen her stalker, actually.

Regardless, it didn’t matter if she wasn’t currently in the apartment, not if she could break in whenever she pleased. She considered turning on the TV to help drown out the noises along with her own persistent thoughts, but decided against it. If she had the TV on, she might not be able to hear if someone were trying to get in. This was the best she could do for now, she supposed. She still didn’t feel very comfortable.

She was still awake when her alarm went off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm SO sorry Eddie wasn't in this chapter but I promise she'll be in the next one, don't give up on me yet ToT I hope I made up for it with Zsasz though!


	3. Chapter 3

“You look like shit,” the customer told her, leaning against the counter as she counted out his change. 

“So do you, but that’s nothing new,” Oswin half-heartedly retorted, earning an amused chuckle from him in response. It was hard to be mad at the comment when she knew he was right. She had been up all night and hadn’t even bothered to bathe or do her hair and makeup. Besides, she was used to his bluntness by now. He was a regular, and although they rarely spoke she supposed she had grown somewhat fond of him. She handed him the coins which he then shoved into his pocket along with his purchases.

“Try and take care of yourself, uh…” She rolled her eyes in mock annoyance as he leaned in to get a closer look at her name tag. He did this every time they spoke. “...Oswin.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” she grumbled dismissively, “You too.” He nodded at her before leaving and she went back to trying and failing to stay awake. She had already dozed off a few times throughout the day only to be startled awake by the jingling of the door or a customer rapping their fist against the counter. She wondered how many people had gotten away with stealing due to her inattention. Not that she really cared. 

Oswin had just been starting to nod off again when her coworker finally arrived. She had barely even gotten the door open before she began spewing out apologies and making excuses for being late. Oswin glanced up at the clock behind her. It was only two minutes past when her shift was due to end. She didn’t even bother with responding to her as she prepared to leave, focused only on getting home at this point. That was, perhaps, the only good thing about her current state of sleep deprivation; it was hard to worry about her stalker when she couldn’t concentrate on anything aside from how much she needed sleep. Even in her younger days she had never been the type to pull all-nighters, and that certainly wasn’t any different now.

As much as she hated to admit it, though, she knew she should probably stop for some food first. She hadn’t eaten anything all day and was still not too keen on eating anything from her apartment. She’d go shopping later, but for now, she’d just grab something quick. She left the store and headed for a nearby bagel shop that she liked to eat at from time to time. Maybe she’d even spoil herself and order her favorite. It was a bit on the pricey side, but she deserved something special after the week she’d been having. Besides, if she ended up going broke she could always try asking her sociopathic sugar mama to lend her some money for rent. She chuckled to herself at the thought and wondered if she was even more sleep deprived than she had realized.

Unfortunately, the store was quite packed and there was a significantly long line of people waiting to order. She wasn’t very patient on the best of days, and today was very far from being one of her best. Putting on a hostile demeanor, she stormed over to the middle of the line and shoved her way in wordlessly. She had to hold back a laugh when the other customers not only allowed her to do this, but stepped back in order to give her a wide berth. The trick worked surprisingly often in Gotham, as most people were afraid they might get stabbed if they tried to speak up. It was a justified fear, as such things happened on a bi-weekly basis. 

Once she had finally been served she brought her lox and cream cheese bagel to one of the few remaining tables, not wanting to wait until she got home to eat it. Her hunger was really catching up to her now, and her stomach growled loudly as she pulled the bagel out of its paper bag. She hadn’t had one in months, and upon taking the first bite, she concluded that it tasted even better than she had remembered. She always did have quite a fondness for fish.

She gazed out the window as she ate, silently judging the fashion choices of the people walking by. She wasn’t exactly dressed to kill either, but it wasn’t her choice to wear such a drab work uniform. These people did have the choice and they used it to publicly embarrass themselves. She didn’t understand it at all. With a yawn, she let her eyes slip shut for a moment and remembered how she used to do this with her mother. 

Gertrud had a tendency to isolate herself inside the apartment, and so every once in a while, Oswin would convince her to accompany her to the park for some fresh air. They would sit on a bench together and make quiet comments to each other about the people who would pass by. Gertrud was always much nicer than her, but Oswin’s excessively critical commentary was often rewarded with quiet giggling. Gertrud had not just been a mother to her, but also a friend, and her only friend at that. She was the only person who ever truly cared about her, the only one to ever look after her. She dearly missed her laugh. Her smile. The feeling of her comforting embrace after a difficult day of work. She could still remember so clearly how warm and safe she felt when she was nestled in her arms. 

* * *

Oswin jolted awake to the sound of a baby loudly crying and scanned her surroundings in a disoriented daze. She panicked for a moment at the unfamiliar environment before becoming lucid enough to remember how she had gotten there. She supposed she shouldn’t have been surprised that she’d fallen asleep, but she was still annoyed at herself for doing so. She glanced down to see that she hadn’t even finished her bagel before drifting off. She sighed and quickly finished off the rest. No point in wasting perfectly good food. Now ready to leave, she reached down to grab her bag from where she had set it down to the left of her chair. Or maybe it was to the right of her chair. Or under it. Wait, where the hell was her bag?

Standing up, she searched around the entire table for it but was able to find nothing. How long had she been asleep for? And who had stolen it? It could have been anyone, of course, this sort of thing happened all the time. Still, it was hard to ignore the possibility of her stalker lying in wait until she had the perfect opportunity to slip in and snatch it away from her. She was never able to tell if that woman was behind it when things went missing and it was slowly driving her insane. 

She tried asking an employee at the front if he had seen anything, but he was incredibly unhelpful. She cursed herself for managing to fall asleep. She had no money so she’d just have to walk home now and hope she didn’t get murdered on the way there. She didn’t even have her knife with her this time so she was utterly helpless. Not to mention, the key to get into her apartment was in there, as was her phone. She began to chew on her thumb nail as she turned out of the store, trying to figure out what she was going to do about the situation. She made it only a couple steps further before looking up and coming face to face with her as she approached from the other direction.

 _Her_.

The stalker.

Oswin felt herself cycling through an array of different emotions as they both stood there staring at each other. Shock, fear, resentment, and resignation, all battling within her to emerge as the dominant emotion. In the end, her anger won out. She was done being scared.

“You,” she snarled, spitting the words through her bared teeth. She had a lot of things she wanted to say to the woman, but in the end, she was too overwhelmed to properly voice any of them.

“You’re awake,” the woman observed simply, seemingly taken off guard by that fact. Oswin glanced down and, unsurprisingly, saw her missing purse within her grasp. Before she could turn around and run off with it, Oswin reached down and yanked it out of her hand. 

“If we weren’t in public right now, I’d gut you like a fish!” she shouted, momentarily turning a few heads of nosy passerby due to her intensity and volume.

“How fortunate for me that we are, then,” she concluded, not looking in the least bit afraid of Oswin. Her lack of fear only served to enrage Oswin even further.

“Just leave me alone already, you psychopath,” she demanded, trying to be as intimidating as possible. Damn it though, the woman was wearing heels today and the height difference was even more apparent than the last time. Screw her for being tall.

“Listen, Oswin. I think we may have gotten off on the wrong foot,” she tried diplomatically, but it was far too late for that.

“Wrong foot? Wrong foot?!? Now that’s an understatement if I’ve ever heard one! You are _literally_ stalking me! You broke into my house! You stole my purse and--”

“Well, actually, I didn’t steal it. I just saw the person who did. I was getting it back for you,” she informed her proudly. Oswin took a moment to process the new information.

“Were you just… watching me sleep?”

“Luckily for you, I was. You should be more careful of where you fall asleep, Oswin,” she advised. Was she seriously implying that she should be grateful that she was stalking her?

“It’s YOUR fault that I fell asleep in the first place!” she exploded, jamming a finger into her chest accusingly. 

“What are you talking about? How could I possibly be responsible for you falling asleep?” the woman asked skeptically.

“Because I was up all night terrified! Why did you break into my house?!” Oswin fumed, and she immediately regretted having admitted to being afraid. She was so worked up it was hard to think properly.

“What do you mean? I did it to leave you the necklace,” she reminded her, and Oswin briefly considered whether it would be worth the jail time to just stab her here in broad daylight.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” Oswin hissed, but the woman was still giving her a blank look of incomprehension.

“No, I’m not sure I do. I couldn’t have just left it by the door, Oswin, someone might have taken it. Did you not like it, by the way? Because I saw you--”

“Of course I didn’t like it! Because it came from YOU!” she interrupted, and for a brief moment the woman looked as if she had been slapped. She recovered quickly, however, returning to her calm and casual demeanor. “Listen to me,” Oswin continued, “If you break into my house again. I WILL kill you. Do you understand?” The woman gave her a curt nod in response and Oswin stared her down for another moment before roughly pushing past her. She had to fight back the urge to look behind her to see if she was following as she stormed off.

Once she had put a decent amount of distance between them, or at least thought she had, she stopped and hailed a cab. She was still exhausted and just wanted to get home as fast as possible so she could take a nap. She carelessly threw her bag onto the floor of the car before climbing in, glancing at the clock on the dashboard as she did so. She was guessing she must have only been asleep for about fifteen minutes or so, which was not nearly enough to put a dent in the sleep deprivation caused by an entire night’s sleeplessness. 

It was about halfway through the ride when Oswin was suddenly struck with an unpleasant realization. She hadn’t even checked her bag to make sure nothing had been stolen. Did she even have the money to pay the fare? Oswin snatched her bag off the ground and tore it open in a panic but was relieved to find everything still exactly where she had left it. She blamed her current delirium for why she hadn’t thought about it sooner. She was just about to put it back down when she noticed something unfamiliar at the bottom of the purse.

It was a small plastic bag with a fortune cookie inside, sealed off at its opening with a red twist tie. One end of the cookie had been slightly smashed and the end of a slip of paper was visibly peeking out from inside. Another gift from her currently least favorite person? She rolled her eyes but opened the bag and removed the slip out of curiosity. She had been expecting it to be another riddle, or at least something else equally ridiculous, and so she was fairly surprised to find that it was an entirely normal fortune.

_“The answers to your questions will soon be revealed.”_

Underneath were the lucky numbers, and on the back, the “Learn Chinese” section with the Chinese character for “telephone”. She supposed the fortune was correct after all; she did indeed now see the answer to all of her problems. The solution was to learn Mandarin and move far away to China where her stalker would never find her. 

She leaned back into the seat and twirled one of her long locks around her index finger as she contemplated what it meant. At this point, she was fairly certain the cookie hadn’t been poisoned, but she had no intentions of testing it. This was partly because she didn’t want to take the chance, but mostly just because she didn’t like fortune cookies. Regardless, she had gained a decent amount of information from their interaction today. Namely that the woman seemed to have some sort of fixation with her and probably had no intentions of attacking her. She had seemed genuinely disappointed at Oswin’s refusal of the necklace and had supposedly tried to return her purse, although she still wasn’t entirely sure if she should believe such a story or not. 

However, if she was telling the truth about someone else having stolen the bag, it was possible that she didn’t even leave the cookie. Perhaps it had belonged to the thief and they had simply tossed it in for convenience. Why anybody would be carrying a fortune cookie around, she wasn’t so sure about. Of course, it was also possible that her stalker had put it into the bag as a gift and meant nothing else by it. Still, though, it seemed somewhat strange. Why would she give her something like this? It wasn’t exactly a traditional gift and it wasn’t expensive like the last one. Additionally, Oswin didn’t even like them and her stalker had no reason to believe that she did. It was a mystery, but one that would have to wait for now. Maybe she would be able to figure it out once she got some sleep, if she even cared enough to bother trying.

Oswin tossed the cookie and fortune in the trash upon arriving at her apartment and changed into something more comfortable before climbing into bed. Surely a two hour nap wouldn’t be enough to completely ruin her sleep schedule. She set her alarm and settled in, falling asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow. 

Unfortunately, though, her beauty rest was prematurely disrupted. She had forgotten to put her phone on silent and was pulled back into consciousness by the irritating sound of her ringtone going off. She took a moment to ponder her terrible luck before sitting up and accepting the call. 

That poor telemarketer was surely regretting dialing her number after hearing what Oswin had to say to her. She’d be lucky if she didn’t have hearing damage afterwards.

Oswin rubbed her face in irritation and checked the time. She had only been woken up thirty minutes early, so no point in going back to sleep now. She shut off the alarm and stretched languidly before letting herself fall back down onto the mattress. She glared at the ceiling as if her being woken up was somehow the ceiling’s fault. 

Still, it could have been worse. For a moment, Oswin had considered the possibility that her stalker was calling her. It could have been possible since she had gotten hold of her bag while her phone was still in it. If she had broken into it, or had seen her punching in her passcode at some point and memorized it, she would have been able to get her phone number. Now that she was thinking about it, it actually made a lot of sense. It would have explained the purpose of the fortune cookie, considering it had the word for “telephone” on the back of it. In that case, it would have served as something of a warning. 

Wait.

Maybe she was onto something. Oswin jumped out of bed and went into the kitchen to dig the fortune back out of the trash. She took a closer look at the lucky numbers printed underneath the fortune and sure enough, there it was. She was almost annoyed at herself for not having noticed it sooner.

The first three digits were the same as the Gotham City area code. She hadn’t taken Oswin’s number-- she was giving her _hers_. But why? If anything, it was just giving her contact information that she could turn into the cops should she want to press charges for the break in. Oswin squinted at the paper again, searching for an answer somewhere on its surface.

Maybe that was exactly it: “ _the answers to your questions”_. Was the woman offering her an explanation for why she had been doing all of this? What was her motive for doing so? She chewed at her lip as she considered the pros and cons of calling the number. Best case scenario was that the woman was testing her and would leave her alone once she had passed one of them. It didn’t make a lot of sense, but nothing about the entire situation really did. Even if that weren’t the case, the woman might still be willing to give her answers.

Worst case scenario was that it was merely a trap designed to get Oswin to hand over her number. Perhaps it was possible to learn more about the woman without even calling the number at all though. She pulled out her phone and searched for the number, hoping it would show up in some sort of database. Regretfully, nothing turned up. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy, she thought with a sigh.

No, forget it, she wasn’t going to humor this idiotic girl’s ridiculous games. Tossing the paper aside, she decided on putting on a movie to help take her mind off things. She was becoming frustrated at how much of her thoughts the woman was starting to occupy, and it was time to put an end to that. She pulled out her box of DVDs and pulled a title out at random. It was an old favorite, one she hadn't watched in a while. Good enough. She made herself a bowl of probably-not-poisoned popcorn before turning it on and sprawling out onto her couch to watch it.

About an hour into the movie, it occurred to her that she hadn’t been paying attention to any of it. She buried her head into her hands with a dramatic groan. There was no way she was going to be able to stop thinking about it until she called. What was the worst that could happen, anyway? She could always just block her if she didn’t leave her alone after learning her number.

Making up her mind, she shut off the movie and went to go retrieve the slip. She punched the numbers into her cellphone and held it to her ear, ready to give her a piece of her mind. The woman had offered her answers, and if she refused to keep her end of the bargain, she could always threaten to go to the police.

The phone rang three times before the call was accepted.

“Hello?” came the voice from the other end. Oswin said nothing. “Hello? Who is this?” she tried again after receiving no response. Without thinking, Oswin abruptly ended the call. It was actually her number after all. Oswin supposed that a part of her hadn’t actually expected it to be a real number and wasn’t prepared to be met with the familiar voice coming from the other end of the line. Shaking her head at her own absurdity, she dialed the number once again. This time, the call was answered immediately.

“Yes?” the woman answered, starting to sound a little bit annoyed now.

“I believe I’ve been promised answers,” Oswin finally responded, skipping the formalities. There was a brief pause from the other end.

“...Oswin?” she questioned, sounding startled.

“Obviously. Why do you sound so surprised? You wanted me to call, didn’t you? Isn’t that why you gave me your number?” she asked impatiently. 

“Well…” the woman cleared her throat awkwardly. “Yes. Yes, I suppose so,” she agreed, sounding rather unsure. It took Oswin a moment to figure out why.

“You didn’t think I’d figure it out.”

“Um. No. Not really,” she admitted a bit sheepishly. 

“So you must think I’m an idiot then,” Oswin accused, prickling at the implied insult. As if this woman hadn’t already done enough, now she had to go and insult her intelligence too? She had a lot of nerve.

“Well, it’s just that you weren’t able to figure out the riddles I left you, so I thought--”

“That’s because I didn’t try!” Oswin snapped in irritation. “Just forget it. Are you going to give me answers or not?” There was another pause, and Oswin was just about to speak again when the other woman finally spoke up.

“I suppose it’s only fair. But I have conditions,” the woman told her, and Oswin couldn’t believe her ears.

“Conditions? You didn’t say anything about conditions,” Oswin hissed.

“I didn’t say there wouldn’t be conditions,” she countered, and Oswin groaned and slammed her hand down on the table in aggravation.

“Fine! What are these “conditions”?” 

“I’ll tell you what you want to know. But only in person. It can be in public if you’d like, but you have to come alone,” she informed her.

“Oh, is that all?” Oswin asked sarcastically. “Yeah, I’d rather die.” Most likely, she knew that Oswin wouldn’t agree to such terms and had only proposed them as a way of getting out of the deal. It was a cheap way of making it seem like Oswin was the one backing out instead of her, but she wasn’t going to fall for it.

“Suit yourself. Let me know if you change your mind,” she told her.

“I won’t.” Oswin ended the call. She felt ridiculous for even trying in the first place. What had she been expecting? She should have known the woman wasn’t going to be cooperative. If anything, she was probably making the situation even worse by paying attention to her. Perhaps she should try simply ignoring the woman until she got bored and went away. For now, though, what she really needed was a long, hot bath. With bubbles. And maybe even some candles. Dropping her phone onto the table, she left the room to do just that.

Afterwards, she came back to see the phone lit up with a single text message.

Unknown number: _Try and get some sleep, Oswin. :)_

Fantastic. She’d just deal with it in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I shouldn't be publishing anything while this sleep deprived but I make bad decisions. Anyways, thanks SO much to everyone who's been keeping up with this so far!<3


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait on this one, future updates will most likely be more regular. Thanks again to everyone who's been keeping up with the story so far!

Freakishly Tall Psycho Stalker: _Just saw some guy get swarmed by pigeons. He had a blond Mohawk, I think the birds thought it was made out of french fries._

Despite herself, Oswin let out a quiet snort as she peered down at the message displayed on her phone. She had been expecting another random fact or pictures of whatever random dog she had happened to come across that day, but messages like these weren’t particularly uncommon either. She had practically been blowing up her phone ever since she’d acquired her number over a week ago, and although Oswin never replied to any of them, she didn’t do anything to put a stop to it either. In a weird way, it had been kind of comforting. Before the messages, the woman had seemed untouchable and mysterious, a constantly looming threat that she couldn’t control and had no understanding of. Now, well… it was almost hard to take her seriously. 

Almost. Oswin still knew better than to drop her guard completely. After all, many of the worst criminals were often reported to have seemed normal or even charismatic to the people who were lucky enough to have known them and lived to tell the tale. 

She stuffed her phone back into her purse and made her way out of the store, having been interrupted by the message just as she was getting ready to leave. The torrential downpour from earlier in the day had finally stopped and she only had one bag of groceries, so she figured she might as well just walk. It wasn’t far from her apartment anyway and she wasn’t very concerned about being followed anymore. In fact, she was starting to suspect the stalking had stopped altogether, as she hadn’t seen a trace of the strange woman since their last encounter at the bagel shop. Perhaps having some form of contact with Oswin had been enough to appease her, even if only temporarily. 

Oswin gazed up at the dark clouds overhead, idly wondering if it was going to rain again. The recent storms had brought cooler temperatures along with them, and Oswin was grateful for the reprieve from the oppressive summer heat. Hearing her phone go off again, she awkwardly shifted her purse onto her other wrist so she could dig the device out using her free arm. Before she could do so, however, she found herself suddenly knee-deep in a puddle of dirty water. Curse Gotham and its rampant pothole problem. Her day had been going so well up to that point, too, but she should have known something would come along to ruin it.

She climbed out of the water with a scowl, assessing the damage done to her skirt. Fortunately, the fabric was dark purple, and she was confident she would be able to get the mud stains out without too much trouble. She dragged a hand down her face in irritation before returning to her task of retrieving her phone from her bag.

Freakishly Tall Psycho Stalker: _Watch out for the puddle._

Oswin stood there for a few moments as she stared at the message, feeling her soul leaving her body. So that was one question answered-- the stalking hadn’t stopped after all. She had also just watched on as she humiliated herself by walking directly into a dirty puddle. Before she could even consider what she was doing, Oswin found herself hitting ‘call’ and holding the phone up to her ear. She scanned the area as she waited for the call to be answered, but she still wasn’t able to locate the woman’s vantage point. Damn, she was good. The call was finally answered and she heard the other woman start to speak before immediately cutting her off.

“What do I have to do to get you to stop following me around?” Oswin snarled, hoping the woman wasn’t close enough to see the embarrassed flush that had made its way onto her cheeks.

“Hmm… I’d say that counts as asking me a question, and I do believe we had an agreement,” the other woman answered smugly. Even without being able to see her, Oswin could tell from her voice alone that she was smiling. Oswin pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.

“Listen, I don’t know anything about you, or your life, but you _surely_ must have something better to do than following me around all day spamming me with dog pictures,” Oswin gritted into the line. She was hoping that appealing to her sense of reason would be more effective than threats and pleading had been thus far.

“Oh. Do you not like the dog pictures?” the woman asked in return, sounding crestfallen.

“What? That’s hardly the point!”

“So you _do_ like them,” she countered, and Oswin had to fight back the urge to jump back into the pothole and try to drown herself in it.

“Go to hell,” Oswin growled, and was just about to hang up when she heard shouting coming from the other end.

“Wait, wait! Alright, I… Okay. I’ve been thinking about it, and since you don’t seem to be interested in my offer, I’m willing to sweeten the deal. If you agree to meet with me, I’ll tell you everything you want to know _and_ I’ll stop following you.” Oswin blinked in surprise and disbelief.

“So if I do this, you’ll leave me alone? Forever?” Oswin questioned skeptically, feeling as if the deal was too good to be true.

“I… didn’t say that,” the woman muttered. Ah. So only the stalking, then. That was fine, she could live with the messages.

“And why should I believe you?” Oswin asked, still unconvinced.

“Unfortunately, I don’t have any way of proving that I’ll adhere to our terms. You’ll just have to settle for taking my word for it.” Oswin paused briefly, considering the offer.

“What is your name?”

“What?”

“You expect me to meet with you in person and you still won’t even tell me your name?” Oswin questioned, raising an eyebrow. She paused for a moment to allow the other woman to answer but received no response.

“Fine. I guess you’ll just have to remain in my phone as ‘freakishly tall psycho stalker’ for now, then,” she concluded.

“Oswin! That’s mean,” the woman whined, sounding like a child.

“Well, that was kind of the idea,” Oswin pointed out.

“...You can call me Eddie,” the woman answered after another moment of silence.

“Fine. You’ll meet me at eight o’clock sharp then, Eddie. I’ll text you the location. Don’t be late.” She ended the call.

Joke's on her. She still wasn’t changing the phone contact.

* * *

It still wasn’t too late to back out yet. Oswin was currently hovering outside the door to the bar she had appointed as their meeting location, debating on whether she should go inside or just call another cab and go home without a word. The whole situation was starting to feel ridiculous now. She was letting herself get pushed around, agreeing to play nice and meet with her in a desperate attempt to make her go away. She hated giving into her demands, but ‘Eddie’ had been admittedly effective at wearing her down, if that was even the woman’s real name. Oswin was almost regretting having asked her for it. At first, she’d been annoyed that she knew her name while Oswin still didn’t know hers, as it emphasized the uncomfortable power imbalance between them that Oswin was doing her best to reduce. Addressing her on a first name basis, however, felt almost casual in a way that Oswin hadn’t expected it to, and it seemed strange and unfitting for a bizarre relationship such as theirs.

She quickly glanced at her phone. 8:00 pm. It was now or never, she figured. She wasn’t even sure if the other woman had arrived yet; she had warned her not to be late, but that was by no means any assurance that she actually wouldn’t be. Taking a deep breath, Oswin pulled open the door and stepped inside. She spotted the other woman at the bar almost immediately, even with her back turned to the door. The short brown hair and impossibly long legs were a dead giveaway, and the dark green jumpsuit she was wearing made her stick out like a sore thumb. For someone who was so good at blending in, she seemed to be equally skilled at drawing attention to herself when she wanted to.

Fighting the urge to spin around and walk right back out the door, Oswin marched up to the bar and took a seat on the stool next to her. Eddie looked up right away, fixing her with a gaze so eager her eyes seemed as if they were literally sparkling.

“I was worried you wouldn’t show,” Eddie beamed. Her stare was so uncomfortably intense it made Oswin want to look away, but she refused to show weakness by doing so.

“I wish I could say the same about you,” Oswin answered dryly. 

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” she assured her before waving the bartender over. “Drinks are on me.” Part of Oswin wanted to make her regret the offer by ordering a ridiculous amount of expensive drinks, but it was probably for the best not to allow herself to become too inebriated in her presence. As things were already, she planned on keeping a close eye on the woman to make sure she didn’t try slipping anything into her drink.

“I’ll just have the same,” Oswin told the bartender as he approached, motioning to the Bloody Mary Eddie was already sipping at. At least she had good taste.

They were both silent while the bartender prepared the requested drink, as Eddie seemed to be allowing Oswin the opportunity to be the one to initiate. Oswin was thankful for that, since she didn’t want to begin until she had at least a little bit of alcohol in her. The drink was finally placed in front of her and she took a long sip before turning to face the woman next to her, clearing her throat before speaking.

“So then, you’ll tell me why you’ve been following me now?”

“Jumping straight into it, are we? I was actually kind of hoping we could start with something easy,” Eddie mumbled awkwardly, moving to take a sip from her own drink as well. 

“Something easy?” Oswin echoed in disbelief. “You’re right, I’m sorry. Why don’t you tell me your star sign then? Favorite food, perhaps?”

“Oh, well personally I don’t put any stock into subjects like astrology-- not to offend you or anything, of course. But if you insist on knowing, I’m--”

“I wasn’t serious!” Oswin snapped, causing Eddie to jump and spill a bit of her drink on herself.

“Of course not, my apologies,” she rushed to say, pushing her glasses up on her nose nervously. Oswin studied her in confusion as Eddie began to dab at the stain with a napkin. Oswin was positive she had never seen the woman jump like that before, or even look in the slightest bit uncomfortable, and she had threatened her with a knife for Christ's sake. Why the sudden change?

“Okay. The reason I’ve been following you. Right,” she muttered before clearing her throat and lifting her gaze to look Oswin in the eyes. “Well, I suppose you seemed… interesting. I couldn’t help but to be curious. I wanted to know more about you,” she explained. Oswin began tapping her fingers on the bar in obvious dissatisfaction with the answer, and Eddie’s eyes fixated on them anxiously.

“Is that so? That’s the only reason?” Oswin pressed, to which Eddie nodded silently after a moment of hesitation. Oswin leaned back against the bar and allowed her gaze to travel up towards the ceiling, seemingly chewing over the answer she had been given.

“Let me ask you this, then. Back when we met in that alley, you told me that I was the first person to ever notice you. What did you mean by that, exactly? Was it in general? Or am I not the first woman you’ve done this to?” Oswin questioned, staring Eddie down as she interrogated her. Eddie looked visibly uncomfortable, as if she hadn’t been expecting to be asked such a question.

“Who said it was just women?” she asked with a shaky smile, as if she were trying and failing to regain control of the situation. So it was like that, then. If anything, it made a lot of sense.

“And what did you do with them after?” Oswin demanded, her tone growing serious.

“Nothing,” Eddie sputtered defensively, “I didn’t do anything to them. I swear! I followed them until I got bored and then I left them alone.” Oswin considered that for a moment, her brows furrowed in confusion. 

“So you never even spoke to them?” She asked, and Eddie shook her head.

“Then… why did you decide to reach out to me?”

“I didn’t. Technically, you spoke to me first,” she pointed out. Oswin shut her eyes as she pieced it all together, her jaw working angrily. So this was some sort of demented hobby for her. She moved from one person to the next, always watching but never interacting. If Oswin hadn’t noticed her presence and initiated contact herself, none of this would have ever gotten this far. If the woman was to be believed, she would have just kept to the shadows and then left on her own accord. Oswin cursed herself mentally. If she had known, she would have just walked straight home that night and never looked back.

“And the riddles? The fortune cookie?”

“Oh, I left them all hints as well, but none of them ever figured any of them out. I suppose that part was just a bit of fun, to make things more exciting by leaving clues that would lead back to me. Did you like it, by the way?”

“Haven’t we gone over this? I hated the riddles. They were annoying,” Oswin told her exasperatedly.

“No, the fortune cookie,” she clarified.

“What? I threw it away. Why are you asking?” Oswin asked in turn, baffled by the question.

“Oh, no reason. It’s just, it was homemade and I… well, never mind, it’s not important.” Oswin squinted at her for a moment, judging her silently before turning back to her drink while she considered her next question. It was unbelievable that she had gone through all that effort for a dumb puzzle when she could have just slipped her number into her bag with a label as to what it was.

“Why the necklace?” she asked eventually.

“Oh, that? I suppose it was a peace offering of sorts. In a sense, us meeting that night had been due to my own arrogance and sloppiness. I caused you more distress than I had originally intended to, and I’m sorry for that.” 

“So you’re apologizing to me for getting caught, but not for stalking me in the first place?” Oswin interrupted. Eddie pressed her lips together into a tight line.

“Can I finish?” she asked in annoyance, and Oswin rolled her eyes and waved for her to continue. “As I was saying. I was hoping that by giving you a gift, I could demonstrate that I had good intentions and put your mind at ease.”

“So you thought you could reassure me by _breaking into my house_? I thought you were threatening me!” she exploded, and Eddie grimaced in response.

“I suppose I hadn’t really thought it through. I had seen you looking at it and I thought you would be happy. I’m sorry,” she said softly. Oswin had exactly zero sympathy for her. What she had done was completely insane, and the fact that she didn’t seem to understand what was wrong with it made it even worse.

“Um… It’s a little scratched up after being, uh, roughly handled, but I still have it if you changed your mind,” she added, and Oswin turned to glare at her.

“I didn’t, and I won’t,” she vowed, her tone leaving no room for argument.

“Understood,” Eddie said even quieter, her voice practically a whisper now. Oswin considered leaving. After all, she hadn’t put a minimum requirement on the amount of time she had to stay in order for the agreement to be valid, so she could walk out any time she pleased. Although her curiosity had gotten the best of her and she had taken advantage of the opportunity to ask a few questions, her main purpose was just to show up so that the woman would leave her alone. It was obvious that she wasn’t being entirely forthcoming, anyway. Oswin wasn’t stupid and could see the signs of her holding back important details, but she didn’t think she was going to be able to get much else out of her, so there was little point to staying. Before she could make any decisions, though, the woman spoke up once again.

“I like your dress,” she commented without looking up from her drink. Oswin instinctively glanced down as if she didn’t already know what she was wearing and immediately felt stupid for doing so. It was a gray, form-fitting dress that came down to just past her knees. She hadn’t been trying to impress her specifically, but she tended to put a great deal of effort into her appearance whenever possible. She didn’t consider herself to be shallow, but she felt that neglecting one’s image showed a lack of self-respect.

“Well, as you are well aware, I was in need of a change of attire,” she responded flatly. A small smile slipped onto Eddie’s face at her words, much to Oswin’s irritation.

“I tried to warn you.”

“Clearly, not fast enough,” Oswin countered bitterly.

“I’ll aim to be faster next time, then,” Eddie laughed.

“There won’t be a next time,” Oswin reminded her. “Not if you plan on keeping this little deal of ours.”

“Of course I’ll keep it. But who’s going to keep you from walking into puddles when I’m gone?” she teased. Oswin groaned and finished off the rest of her drink.

“May I ask what happened to your foot, by the way?” Eddie asked, glancing down curiously. 

“No, you may not. That’s not how this works. I get to ask you the questions, not the other way around,” Oswin replied flippantly, mildly annoyed at her having drawn attention to it. The injury was relatively recent, and she was still coming to terms with it. The last thing she needed was Eddie badgering her over the details.

“That’s fair,” Eddie reluctantly relented, and Oswin stood up and grabbed her bag.

“Well. Can’t say this has been fun, but I think I’d like to skip to the part where you leave me alone forever now. Goodbye, Eddie.”

“Oswin, wait,” Eddie interrupted, grabbing her by the wrist as she turned to leave. Oswin aggressively shook her off and looked at her expectantly, barely containing her rage at having been touched without permission or proper warning.

“I know I haven’t been acting in a way that could be considered socially appropriate by any means, but I want you to know I truly never meant any harm. If you could find it in yourself to forgive me, I was actually hoping that we might even be friends.” Oswin stared at her with wide eyes for a few seconds, and then she barked out a laugh. And then another. She continued to laugh as if it were the funniest thing she had ever heard, even lightly slapping her thigh a few times just for good measure. 

Then, she turned around and left the bar without another word.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, I lied Q-Q I'll keep trying my best to get them out faster though, I promise!

Oswin triple checked that she had her keys with her before leaving the apartment. The absolute last thing she needed right now was a repeat of that night last week at the bar. After her dramatic exit, she had gone home only to realize she had forgotten her keys inside and was locked out. She supposed her mind had been preoccupied at the time, but excuses weren’t going to open the door. She didn’t have money to spare on paying the steep fee for having her door unlocked, and as much as she downright loathed the idea of it, she happened to know a person who could unlock her door for free. Swallowing down her pride, she’d sent her a quick text to explain the situation. It was short, simple, and vaguely insulting. She shoved her phone back into her purse afterwards, not wanting to read her undoubtedly amused reaction. She knew she’d come regardless, so it didn’t really matter. 

To make the entire situation even more insufferable, she’d had to sit there in the hall listening to the loud moaning coming from Zsasz’s place until Eddie arrived. It wasn’t unusual to hear strange noises coming from his apartment, but she was usually able to quickly walk past while doing her best not to pay any mind to it. This time, she was forced to listen, much to her annoyance. She was pretty sure she could make out more than just two voices, but she tried not to think about that too hard. 

Oswin refused to even look at Eddie when she arrived. She sat on the floor with her face in her hands as Eddie worked at the door until she eventually heard it click open. She reluctantly pulled herself off the ground to see Eddie still standing there silently, looking at her as though she was expecting something. 

“What? Did you think I was going to invite you in for some tea? Go home,” Oswin grumbled, motioning for Eddie to move out of her way. The other woman hadn’t seemed bothered by her lack of gratefulness, and if anything, appeared as if she was thoroughly entertained by Oswin’s predicament. Still, she obediently stepped aside, and Oswin wasted no time in pushing past her into the apartment and slamming the door in her face. For the second time that day, Oswin had felt as though she could die out of embarrassment. 

Oswin felt her face starting to flush just from reliving the memory, and she forced herself to stop thinking about it. She had more important things to think about today, after all. She wasn’t really in the mood to leave the house, but the sooner she got things over with, the sooner she could come back home and stay there. She hopped into a cab and stared down at the slightly wilted flowers resting lifelessly in her lap.

It was her mother’s birthday today, or at least it would have been. It had felt wrong to just act as if it were any other day even if her mother wasn’t around to celebrate it, and so she resolved to bring a few lilies to leave at her grave. Her mother had always loved flowers, lilies especially. Besides, it was the least she could do after having killed all of her potted plants shortly after her passing. Despite her best attempts, Oswin had never had much of a green thumb, unlike her mother. Those poor plants never stood a chance.

She had gotten so lost in her thoughts during the ride that she hadn’t even noticed when the cab came to a stop and she had to be rudely pulled back into reality by the driver. Oswin threw the fare at him in retaliation before stepping out of the cab, ignoring the curses and insults being hurled after her from the window. The cemetery looked dreary and dismal even on such a nice day and Oswin felt a pang of pity for her mother as she made her way towards the gates. Her mother had always been a bright and lively person, and having a place such as this for her final resting place felt cruel and unfitting. 

It didn’t take her much time to locate the familiar tombstone. This had not been her first visit there, and she knew for certain it would also not be her last, either.

“Happy birthday, mother,” she choked out as she laid the flowers down, her words heavily saturated by grief. “I’m sure you had forgotten, as always.” Every year, her mother would deny that it was her birthday and insist that Oswin had incorrectly remembered the date. Oswin knew that she was lying every time and was only trying to get out of having to acknowledge that she had turned a year older once again. It was a familiar routine between the two of them, and Oswin looked back upon it fondly. 

“I hope things are going better for you up there than they are down here for me. It’s so hard without you. I miss you so much,” she sniffled, feeling the first tears beginning to roll down her cheeks. She hoped that in death she had been able to find the happiness that Oswin was never able to give to her, as frustrating as it was that she would now never have the chance. 

She had planned on giving her a better life, getting a better job and moving them into a bigger place. She wanted her mother to have everything she could possibly dream of, even if she always said that just being with her daughter was more than enough. Her mother had deserved to have nice things, and Oswin failed to give her that. She hadn’t even been there for her in her final days. Instead of being strong for her, she had been weak and pitiful, forcing her mother to comfort her when it should have been the other way around. She knew her mother would forgive her for that, but it was harder for Oswin to forgive herself.

She managed to get out a few more pained words, but she knew she would have to leave soon or risk breaking down completely. Just as she was finishing up and had turned to leave, though, a sudden suspicion crossed her mind. Eddie had claimed that she would stop following her after their meeting, but Oswin had not yet been able to confirm that she had actually stopped. In fact, since she had previously been unable to locate her even when she already knew she was there, it seemed unlikely that Oswin would ever be able to know for sure if the stalking had completely ceased. Oswin had been so distracted she hadn’t even considered the possibility of her having followed her here from her apartment and the thought of Eddie having seen her during such a private moment made her overwhelmed with sudden rage.

Taking a few breaths to steady her still shaky voice, she called Eddie’s number with full intent to demand she provide proof of her current location. When the line was answered, however, it was Eddie who spoke first.

“Hi, Oswin! Did you lock yourself out again?” she asked, chuckling quietly to herself. Oswin immediately hung up on her. Shortly after, her phone was blown up with texted apologies and repeated phone calls. Oswin let her sweat it out for a moment, feeling a bitter satisfaction out of seeing the increasingly desperate tone in her messages. Eddie tried to call her yet again and this time she angrily accepted it.

“You’re an asshole,” Oswin spat, wincing at the unfortunate crack in her voice.

“Jesus, are you crying? Oswin, I am so sorry, it was just a joke. I didn’t mean to upset you,” she explained hastily.

“Well, you did. You hurt my feelings and now I’m crying. Are you happy now?”

“No! No, of course I’m not, Oswin I--”

“That’s not what I’m crying about, you absolute moron,” Oswin spat, her usual venom only slightly dampened by the subtle tremor in her voice. At least now she knew for sure that Eddie was either nowhere in the vicinity or just an extremely good actor. If she had been, the source of her distress would have been immediately obvious to her.

“Is everything alright? I’m at work right now, but if it’s an emergency I can figure something out,” she rushed to offer, and if Oswin had been speaking to literally anyone else she might have been moved by the genuine concern that was evident through her tone. 

“I’m fine, and even if I wasn’t, you’re the last person I would be calling for help,” Oswin huffed back, ignoring the fact that she had already proven her last statement to be false. Fortunately, Eddie had the good sense to not point out the contradiction. 

“Well, since you called me, you obviously want something. Did you want to talk about it?” she tried, and Oswin almost laughed at how entirely off-base she was about the purpose of her call.

“No. As a matter of fact, I just was calling to ensure you were holding up your end of our bargain. For now, at least, I can see that you are, and so I don’t think we have anything left to discuss,” she informed her.

“Is that so?” Eddie asked, sounding entirely unconvinced. “Well, could you at least tell me what’s wrong?”

“I don’t see why I would,” Oswin deflected, annoyed that she was trying to use her momentary weakness as an opening to pry into the details of her life. Clearly, the woman had no shame.

“Listen, Oswin, I hate to leave you like this but I really have to get back to work. Would you like for me to stop by later? I could bring us some wine.”

“Why in the world would I ever want that?” Oswin asked her, flabbergasted that Eddie was under the impression that she’d voluntarily request to be in her company. 

“Because you have no one else to turn to and you’re desperate, I’m assuming,” she guessed. Oswin opened her mouth to spit out another snippy retort but ended up closing it, standing there in shock as her words settled in. It should have been an insult, but due to her incredibly casual delivery, Oswin legitimately couldn’t tell if she had meant it as one. Regardless, even if it wasn’t actually why she had called her, she was still technically right. Oswin was completely alone, and the fact that Eddie was catching onto that annoyed her.

“That’s not true,” she lied unconvincingly.

“It’s okay, Oswin. I don’t have anyone either,” she empathized, and Oswin scoffed into the phone.

“Am I supposed to be surprised by that?” she quipped, and she heard a heavy sigh come from the other end.

“I do have a life outside of you, Oswin. Or… well, I used to, at least.”

“That must have been a _very_ long time ago,” Oswin speculated and Eddie cleared her throat nervously.

“I lost someone close to me a few years back, and things have never really been the same for me since,” she admitted, and Oswin envied how steady she was able to keep her voice despite her obvious discomfort. She supposed she hadn’t really considered what Eddie’s life was like aside from her; why would she have? She was too busy trying to get her to leave her alone to bother wondering about her personal life. It was hard to imagine her developing a close relationship with anyone, though. She figured that one would have to be the kind of person with a very severe inability to create personal connections in order to end up developing stalking people as a casual hobby. It was easy to picture her holed up in some dark basement or tiny apartment, only ever coming out to wreak havoc upon Gotham’s poor inhabitants.

“I still have to go, but I’ll text you after work, alright? Bye, Oswin,” she promised before hanging up. Distantly, Oswin noted that it was the first time that Eddie had ever hung up on her rather than the other way around.

* * *

Oswin was currently nestled up in the safety of her bed and had no intentions of leaving it any time soon. She had long since given up on being productive, fully aware that she was probably going to be out of sorts for the rest of the day. Even something as simple as lying in bed, though, brought back painful memories. To save money she and her mother had always slept in the same bed, and the empty spot beside her was a constant, painful reminder of her absence. She considered getting a dog to help negate some of the loneliness. She didn’t think they were supposed to have them in the apartments, but she also didn’t care.

She was rereading the same page in her book for probably the 6th or 7th time when she heard her phone go off and she placed the book aside, grateful for the sudden distraction. Try as she might, she just wasn’t absorbing any of it. 

Freakishly Tall Psycho Stalker: _How are you doing?_

Oswin rolled her eyes before tapping out a reply.

Oswin: _Despite whatever you’d like to believe, I was somehow able to manage just fine without your help._

A simple ‘ _Good :)_ ’ was the only reply, and Oswin wondered if Eddie had missed her sarcasm or if she was just choosing to ignore it. Oswin waited for the next message, fully expecting Eddie to continue to badger her. She was surprised to see that it didn’t happen.

Oswin: _So you’re off work now, I assume? I don’t believe you’ve mentioned what it is that you even do._

Freakishly Tall Psycho Stalker: _Oswin, are you sure you’re alright?_

Oswin blinked at the message in confusion, not understanding what prompted her suspicion.

Oswin: _That IS what I said, isn’t it?_

Freakishly Tall Psycho Stalker: _Yes, but if I didn’t know any better I would think you were trying to initiate a friendly conversation with me right now, which I’m sure you realize is... very unlike you._

Oswin: _You’re right, my mistake. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again._

Oswin sent the text angrily and tossed her phone onto the bed with a huff. It WAS unlike her, and she was equally as mad at herself for doing it as she was at Eddie for having pointed it out. If she was really so desperate for conversation, it would be more sensible to go outside and hit up the first person she found on the street rather than talk to Eddie. Even better would have been to see a therapist, but she couldn’t see herself having the money to afford that anytime soon. She heard her phone buzzing again and despite her brief attempt to resist the temptation, she found herself picking it back up to read the message anyway.

Freakishly Tall Psycho Stalker: _There’s no need to be so dramatic, Oswin. And to answer your question, I work in forensics._

Well, that was certainly fitting. A creepy job for a creepy person.

Oswin: _If you have a job, how were you even able to spend so much time following me around everywhere?_

Freakishly Tall Psycho Stalker: _Maybe I just wasn’t around as often as you thought._

Oswin: _Likely story. So, what now, anyway? Are you just going to move onto your next victim now that you’re done with me?_

Freakishly Tall Psycho Stalker: _We’ll see. Would you like me to keep you posted?_

Oswin: _I would, actually. Send pictures._

Oswin snorted at the idea, imagining her taking photos of her next obsession as she followed them around the city. It was still a little unnerving, but it was better someone else than Oswin. 

Freakishly Tall Psycho Stalker: _Will do._

Oswin: _Who were you talking about earlier?_

Freakishly Tall Psycho Stalker: _Sorry?_

Oswin: _You said you had lost someone close to you. Who was it?_

Freakishly Tall Psycho Stalker: _Oh. She was a girlfriend of mine._

Oswin: _I lost someone too. My mother._

Oswin wasn’t sure what compelled her to share something like that with her so suddenly, but she wouldn’t deny that it felt good to do so. Despite how much it had been weighing on her, she hadn’t told a single soul about her mother’s recent passing and it was an unbelievable relief to finally get it off her chest. 

Freakishly Tall Psycho Stalker: _I’m sorry. Is that what was on your mind earlier?_

Oswin: _Yes. Today was her birthday._

Freakishly Tall Psycho Stalker: _I see. Maybe this isn’t the right thing to say right now, but it does get better. I loved her terribly, and it did hurt at first. Unbelievably so. But now, it’s not painful for me to think of her anymore. If anything, I’m grateful. Do you know why?_

Oswin: _No. And I don’t really care, either. My mother was the only person who ever cared about me and now she’s gone. It isn’t going to get any better. I think we’re done talking about this._

Oswin was furious she would even imply that she might eventually be “grateful” for her mother’s death. How she could possibly feel that way about her dead girlfriend was another question entirely. Maybe this woman wasn’t capable of feeling actual love after all and had only been mistaken. She felt stupid for having considered for a second there that she might be a human being with functional emotions even after everything she already knew about her. Clearly, Oswin had misjudged her.

Freakishly Tall Psycho Stalker: _Love is a strength for some, but for me, it was a weakness. Now, I have none. And neither do you. All this pain you’re experiencing right now? You’ll never have to go through any of this ever again. You have no one to worry over anymore, no one to answer to but yourself. Only a person who loves no one can ever know how it feels to be truly free, and you’ll discover that for yourself soon enough, Oswin._

Oswin didn’t know how to feel about everything she said at first, but she couldn’t deny that in some way, it did make sense. Oswin had never felt burdened or trapped by her mother, and yet the words spoke to something deep inside of her, a part of her that had always been there but that she had never really acknowledged. A part of her that hated weakness, that didn’t want to be controlled by anyone. 

She decided not to respond or continue the conversation, but if her head was a little clearer and she was finally able to focus when she eventually returned to her book, it was purely coincidence and had nothing to do with anything that sociopath of a woman had said to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shortened and changed up their talk from the show because I don't think either of them are quite in the same place, but I hope it still reads okay! Also, if the text formatting is hard to read let me know and I can try to do something else with it. As always, thanks so much for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

Oswin tossed another item into her already full cart as she glowered at the mother of a temperamental child. She hated grocery shopping to begin with, and loudly screaming children threatening to give her a headache was the last thing she needed. 

Subtly, she snatched a piece of candy off of a shelf and quietly opened it before inching her way over to the little girl in the shopping cart. She held the piece of candy out in front of her but quickly pulled it away as the girl reached out to grab it. She raised her index finger to her lips in a clear gesture, and the girl quickly nodded before reaching out again for the candy. Oswin glanced up to make sure that her mother’s back was still turned and then allowed her to take it before returning to her cart as if nothing had happened. At least that got her to shut up. Whether or not the girl ended up with cavities was the least of Oswin’s concerns.

She hated how much money she was spending, but the store was having multiple sales that were too good to pass up and she planned on taking full advantage of them while she could. She preferred to stockpile whenever possible since that meant she wouldn’t have to go back out for a while, which was ideal for her.

Hearing her phone go off, she paused for a moment to send back a quick reply. She had been casually texting with Eddie all day, and she wouldn’t deny that she was somewhat thankful for someone to have a half-decent conversation with. The woman was a little eccentric, but she was still far better to talk to than any of the dimwitted coworkers she had the displeasure of working with. As long as she maintained a significant distance from Oswin, Eddie was bearable at the very least.

Upon receiving a reply, Oswin sent a message back once more only to knit her eyebrows together in suspicion. Most likely it was a coincidence, but Oswin could swear she could hear the sound of a nearby phone going off at the exact same time that she was sending the messages. Listening carefully, Oswin sent her another message and heard the nearby tone going off yet again. It sounded like it was coming from the next aisle over. 

Abandoning her cart, Oswin left the aisle to go investigate, desperately hoping that her fears would be proven wrong. Realistically, though, Oswin already knew what she was going to find. A part of her felt disappointed, and possibly a little betrayed by Eddie’s failure to honor their agreement, but mostly she just felt stupid for ever having believed that she would adhere to it in the first place. Additionally, it was unlike Eddie to allow herself to be caught so easily, which gave Oswin the impression that she had let herself be discovered intentionally just to rub her face in it. 

Oswin’s mouth fell open as she entered the aisle, her suspicions confirmed. There was Eddie, standing in the middle of the aisle and looking perfectly innocent. She was good at that, but she couldn’t fool Oswin. She’d had a hunch that things weren’t over yet, that Eddie had lied to her when she claimed she would stop following her, and she wished she hadn’t been so quick to dismiss it. Eddie hadn’t seemed to notice her yet, so Oswin used the advantage to storm up to her and grab her roughly by the lapels of her jacket. Eddie dropped her grocery basket out of surprise, but Oswin paid it no mind.

“What do you think you’re doing here?” Oswin barked, and Eddie’s eyes drifted down to where the basket sat next to her on the floor.

“Umm… shopping?” she responded hesitantly, as if she wasn’t sure if that was the correct answer.

“I thought we had a deal,” Oswin reminded her tensely. “And you know what? You almost had me fooled. Almost. For a solid second there, I thought you might actually stop following me. Isn’t that ridiculous? Because clearly, you have some sort of mental illness and are simply incapable of leaving me alone. I don’t know what I expected, especially not from someone who-- Are you even listening to me?” Oswin snapped, shaking her roughly to regain her attention. While Oswin was talking, she had pulled up her sleeve and began to focus intently on her wristwatch as if timing Oswin’s dramatic outburst.

“Oh, are you done? Then maybe now is a good time for me to point out that I was not, in fact, following you. I was just running a few errands after work,” Eddie informed her, and Oswin raised her eyebrows.

“So the same person who’s been following me around for months just  _ happens _ to be in the same store as me, at the same time, in a huge city, is that right? And why should I believe that?” Oswin countered, and Eddie merely gestured down at her outfit in answer. Oswin’s gaze lowered to take in what she was wearing, having noticed it before without entirely processing it. She was wearing a navy pantsuit, too formal and too warm for a casual stroll around Gotham in the summer heat. She had to admit, it looked good on her, too. The suit was tailored perfectly to her form and Oswin had always been weak for sharply dressed women.

“Can you let go of me now? People are staring,” Eddie pointed out, and Oswin looked around to confirm that people were, indeed, staring at them. She let go reluctantly, hoping it wasn’t obvious that she had been looking for just a few seconds too long. The last thing she wanted was for Eddie to get any ideas; just because the woman was undeniably attractive didn’t mean Oswin had to dislike her any less. She was a little surprised she had never noticed it before, but she supposed her mind had typically been otherwise occupied whenever Eddie had been around. Pulling herself together, she looked back up at her stonily.

“That doesn’t prove anything,” she declared, although it certainly did back up her claim. Oswin refused to acknowledge that, though.

“Maybe not, but I told you I would stop, and I’m a woman of my word. Scout’s honor,” she assured her, holding up three fingers. Oswin squinted at her in response.

“You’re a scout?” she asked skeptically, and Eddie grimaced.

“Well I  _ was _ , once. Until I got kicked out of my troop for--”

“Forget it, spare me the life story,” she interrupted. “I will concede that it is  _ possible _ that this meeting was coincidental, although I’m still not entirely convinced. However,” she started, holding a finger up, “this had better not happen again. Understood?” Eddie looked to the side for a moment, thinking.

“Well to be honest, I’m not really sure how it would be possible for me to guarantee that. Unless, of course, you were to provide me with information as to your current location at all times, in which case I would then be able to do everything in my power to avoid you,” she suggested with an oblivious smile. Shaking her head in disbelief, Oswin just turned around and promptly left the aisle. She then put as much space between her and Eddie as possible, hoping to avoid accidentally running into her again.

She wanted to leave as soon as possible, but there were still a few more things she wanted to pick up before she could go. Annoyed as she was, though, she didn’t feel threatened by her presence like she had been in the past. After the talk they had over the phone, she had gotten the impression that Eddie wasn’t a cold-blooded killer, but rather just some loser who had been driven a little mad from loneliness after the untimely death of her girlfriend. It was less intimidating, but also several times more pathetic in Oswin’s opinion.

After collecting everything she needed and checking out, Oswin began to gather up her bags but was interrupted by an all too familiar voice.

“I hope you’re not planning on carrying all that home by yourself,” Eddie said from over her shoulder, and Oswin groaned in irritation.

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” she replied brusquely, not bothering to turn around.

“I could help you. It’s not that far out of my way,” she offered as Oswin started to walk away.

“I’ll take a cab,” she told her, and was utterly unsurprised when Eddie began to follow along after her.

“In this traffic? I hope you weren’t planning on ever getting home,” she pointed out, and Oswin knew that she was right. Admittedly, she had also lost track of how much she had bought and wasn’t exactly looking forward to lugging so many bags home only to have to then make her way up several flights of stairs. She wasn’t helpless though, no matter what Eddie seemed to think.

“I’ll manage,” she told the other woman firmly, clearly starting to lose her patience. Eddie was quiet for a moment, and Oswin made the mistake of allowing herself to think that might be the end of it.

“I just thought that with your foot and all--” Oswin finally spun around at this, fixing Eddie with such a heated look that she immediately cut herself off.

“I’ll have you know that I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, and I will NOT have you belittling me,” she fumed.

“Don’t misunderstand me, I’m well aware that you can manage it on your own. But… you don’t  _ have _ to,” she emphasized, seemingly a little perplexed that Oswin was refusing the offer. After taking a moment to consider her options, Oswin grabbed a few of her bags and shoved them roughly against Eddie’s chest.

“If I let you help me, will you stop talking?” she asked her, to which Eddie nodded happily. She gathered up the bags in her arms alongside her own singular bag and trotted along behind Oswin silently, as promised. After a few minutes of walking and Oswin contemplating her life choices, she glanced at Eddie out of the corner of her eye. Oswin was wearing a short-sleeved blouse and a knee-length skirt, and she still felt as if she were going to melt. She had no idea how Eddie was even able to function while wearing so much clothing.

“Aren’t you hot?” Oswin asked her, more out of disbelief than any actual concern. Eddie didn’t respond, only turning to study her with furrowed brows as if trying to discern if Oswin was tricking her or not.

“You can talk,” Oswin permitted with an eyeroll.

“But you said not to,” Eddie protested, and Oswin pursed her lips in annoyance. She had gathered through their text conversations that Eddie was, in fact, quite an intelligent woman, and so it was doubly hard to believe how sometimes she could be so incredibly dense.

“Yes, and now I’m saying you can talk, so talk!” she snapped, regretting having even asked the question in the first place. It certainly didn’t seem worth the effort.

“Oh. Uh, a little, but I’ll be fine. Thank you for asking though,” she responded pleasantly, and Oswin went right back to ignoring her. 

“You strike me as more of a fall kind of person,” Eddie noted, and Oswin wondered whether she was referring to her extremely pale skin or if it was a jab regarding how flushed and sweaty she had gotten from just a few minutes of walking.

“Yep. You got me,” she agreed halfheartedly, debating whether or not she should revoke her speaking privileges once again.

“Have you considered carrying a parasol? They’re quite effective for combating summer heat. In fact, although they have fallen out of popularity for such purposes in America, umbrellas were originally invented for protection from the sun rather than from--”

“I don’t need a history lesson, Eddie,” she grumbled, and Eddie just shrugged. 

“Well, what would you like to talk about then?” she tried diplomatically.

“I’d rather not talk about anything at all,” she admitted, to which Eddie hummed thoughtfully.

“I don’t think that’s true,” she argued, much to Oswin’s bewilderment since she had done everything in her power to make it clear that she did not want to be spoken to.

“What could have possibly given you  _ that _ idea?” she wondered aloud.

“You text with me all the time. It seems like you enjoy talking with me quite a bit.”

“You’re more annoying in person,” Oswin countered, and she was being entirely truthful.

“Do you want to know what I think?” Eddie asked.

“I really, really don’t.”

“I think you prefer to text me because it’s easier for you to forget who you’re talking to,” she hypothesized, and Oswin snickered to herself.

“Considering what I use as your contact name, I think it would be hard to forget,” she pointed out, and Eddie shot her an offended look.

“Oswin, I thought you said you were going to change that!” she protested.

“Guess it slipped my mind,” Oswin lied, and Eddie began to rustle her bags around as she reached into her pocket for her phone. Oswin was immediately jealous of the fact that she even had pockets.

“Fine then, two can play at that game. I’ll just change your contact info, too,” she said, and Oswin scoffed at her.

“And I’m supposed to care about that? Do your worst,” she challenged. What this woman thought of her was the least of her concerns, and the fact that she thought otherwise was surprising to say the least.

“Oh, I plan on it. Did you know there’s a certain animal that you remind me of quite a bit?” Eddie asked her as she busied herself with the phone. Oswin didn’t dignify the question with a response. There were a lot of animals that could potentially be used as an insult: pigs, roaches, worms, rats, the list goes on. Regardless, she could care less. She wasn’t so immature as to get bent out of shape over something as silly as this, unlike her.

“And… there,” she announced, angling her phone to allow Oswin to have a look. Her name had been left alone, but the icon above it had been changed. Oswin squinted at it for a few moments, not quite understanding what the joke or insult was supposed to be. 

“Is that… a dog?” she asked her, and Eddie nodded. Was she trying to call her a bitch? Quite frankly, Oswin wouldn’t deny that.

“It’s a chihuahua. Get it? Because you’re small, and always angry,” she explained.

“I--” she started, only to press her lips tightly together. She had intended to argue, only to realize that she couldn’t retaliate without effectively proving her point. That was hardly fair.

“...Fine. I’ll change your contact name, just… get rid of  _ that _ ,” she conceded reluctantly, and Eddie grinned victoriously as she complied. 

“To be perfectly honest, I’m a little surprised you didn’t just block me,” Eddie admitted.

“Was that an option?” Oswin asked, shocked. “I had considered it, but I assumed it would be in violation of our terms. Would you not have just started following me again?”

“Probably not,” Eddie answered, and Oswin kicked herself mentally for not having at least tried it. “Might’ve sent you the occasional letter instead, though.” At first, Oswin thought she was just kidding, but the more she thought about it the less sure she was.

“Well, better late than never. I can block you whenever I want,” Oswin stated. Eddie only chuckled, and Oswin bristled a little at how entirely unconcerned she appeared to be about the vague threat. She wasn’t sure if Eddie just didn’t care, or if she didn’t think that Oswin would actually do it.

After reaching her apartment, Oswin opened the door and allowed Eddie to follow her in and place the bags down where she indicated. Oswin then went into the kitchen and retrieved two glasses which she filled with ice and water. Once she was done, she turned around to hand Eddie a glass but was unable to find her. Perplexed, she glanced around the apartment but didn’t see her anywhere in sight.

“Eddie?” she tried, and after another moment Eddie’s head popped in from the previously closed front door.

“Hm?”

“What are you doing?” Oswin asked in an exasperated tone, and Eddie seemed confused by the question.

“Um… leaving? I just assumed you would want me out of your hair as soon as possible,” Eddie explained. She wasn’t exactly wrong, but heat stroke was a terrible way to go and Oswin wouldn’t wish it on even her enemies. Well, actually, perhaps she’d wish it upon  _ some _ of her enemies, but not this one in particular at least.

She offered her the glass with a raised eyebrow and Eddie took it from her before stepping back in and closing the door behind her. Oswin then pulled out her phone and went to sit at the dining table as she sipped at her water.

After a few moments, her eyes drifted back over to Eddie. She was still standing in the middle of the room awkwardly, and Oswin began to wonder if she had gone slightly delirious from the heat or if she actually was just this socially inept.

“Would you like to sit down?” Oswin asked pointedly, as if in disbelief that Eddie had to be invited in order to do so. Watching her just hovering there was making her feel nervous.

“Oh, um. I suppose,” she said quietly before moving to pull out a chair and sitting down with such rigid posture that Oswin wondered if her spine were made from a solid metal rod. Nevertheless, she merely rolled her eyes and went back to what she was doing.

“You have a lovely place,” Eddie piped up after a few moments of silence.

“Yes, but you already knew that, didn’t you?” Oswin pointed out. If she thought Oswin was just going to let her forget about everything that had happened, she was very wrong. Eddie, looking quite taken aback, immediately reached for her glass of water and busied herself with it, as if looking for an excuse to avoid making eye contact. After a few more moments Eddie tried again, and Oswin began to regret giving her a reason to stay.

“Is this your mother?” She asked softly, pointing at the framed picture in the center of the table.

“No. I have no idea who that is, actually. It was there when I moved in and I just decided I liked it.”

“Well, she’s very pretty,” Eddie added in spite of Oswin’s sarcasm.

“She  _ was _ . Not so much anymore, I’d imagine,” Oswin corrected bitterly. A few more moments of tense silence followed afterwards, much to Oswin’s satisfaction. She’d take tense silence over no silence any day. Suddenly, Eddie tossed her head back and chugged almost the entire glass of water in one go. Oswin simply stared at her in confusion and surprise as she abruptly stood up and pushed her chair back in.

“Well, this has all been very nice and I appreciate your hospitality but I think I’d better get going now. Goodbye!” she said quickly, running the syllables together as if the entire sentence were a single word. At first, Oswin thought that Eddie was angry with her, but after a moment more of studying her she realized that wasn’t the case. No, Eddie was  _ uncomfortable _ , and to such an extent that she had evidently felt it necessary to remove herself from the situation as soon as possible.

Oswin hated herself for the little pang of guilt she felt at having made her feel that way, and she found herself speaking before she had even made the conscious decision to do so.

“Eddie, wait,” she called out, and the woman in question spun around to look at her expectantly. Damn it, she didn’t even know what she was going to say. She certainly didn’t plan on apologizing.

“Th-- Thank you. For… helping,” she managed to force out, and upon seeing the unbridled joy in Eddie’s expression, she immediately wished she could take it back.

“Don’t mention it. What are friends for?” Eddie grinned, and Oswin resisted the urge to run her hands down her face in aggravation.

“We are  _ not _ friends,” she insisted, but Eddie’s mood was unaffected.

“What are acquaintances for?” she amended without missing a beat.

“...Sure,” Oswin allowed before opening the door for Eddie, wanting her to leave as soon as possible so she didn’t have to keep looking at that blinding smile.

“I’ll see you around, Oswin!” she chirped, and Oswin wondered if that was supposed to be a promise or a threat before closing the door behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about this chapter haha :) I diverged from the original plot around chapter 3 and next chapter I should be merging back towards what I had originally outlined, so I'm happy about that. I'm guessing we're roughly halfway through, just to give you guys a general idea. luv u guys sm <3


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